Facebook and Instagram carousel ads: specs and setup

This guide is built from Meta's own pages: the Meta Business Help Center articles About carousel ads, Design specifications for carousel ads, Supported objective and placement options for carousel ads, How to create a carousel ad in Meta Ads Manager, Create a carousel ad from your Page, Show the best-performing cards in a carousel ad, Create a single long image in a carousel ad, Best practices for carousel ads and View metrics for carousel ads, plus the Meta Ads Guide carousel specs for Facebook Feed, Instagram Stories and Instagram Feed. Checked on 10 November 2026. How campaigns, ad sets and ads fit together is in our Meta ads basics guide; this page is only about the carousel format.

What a carousel ad is

Meta describes the carousel format as one that lets you show 2 or more images and videos in a single ad, each with its own headline, description, link and call to action. People swipe through the cards on a phone or click the arrows on a computer. Meta's list of uses includes featuring several products that link to different landing pages, showing several features of one product, telling a story or explaining a process step by step, and spreading one large image across all the cards. If you want one cover image or video with a product grid that opens a full-screen page instead, see our collection ads guide.

Two things can change how the ad looks without you editing it. Meta notes that a carousel may appear as a slideshow video automatically when this format is likely to improve your ad performance. And on Instagram, carousels may have custom positioning automatically applied: the carousel starts on the card a person is most likely to respond to, while the card order and creative stay the same.

Carousel specs by placement

Meta's design specifications page splits the numbers into three groups:

The Ads Guide page for Instagram Feed adds a detail the table hides: it asks for 4:5 for carousels containing only images and says for carousels containing videos, only 1:1 is supported. It also lists video cards on Instagram Feed as 1 second to 2 minutes, and the Facebook Feed page lists at least 1080 x 1080 pixels.

On the Stories card count, Meta's pages don't agree: the design specifications page says a maximum of 3 cards in Instagram Stories, while the Ads Guide's Instagram Stories carousel page lists 2 to 10. Our Instagram Stories ads guide covers how many cards play before the viewer has to tap Expand story.

On video, Meta says carousel videos autoplay as people swipe, Videos under 30 seconds loop for about 90 seconds, but videos over 30 seconds don't loop, and sound is off until the viewer turns it on.

Text limits

The design specifications page gives these copy limits for Facebook, Messenger and Audience Network: text 125 characters, headline 40 characters, link description 25 characters. For Instagram it gives text up to 125 characters and up to 30 hashtags.

The Ads Guide's Facebook Feed page recommends shorter copy: primary text 80 characters, headline 20 and description 18, with a landing page URL required. We read the first set as the limits and the second as what fits on screen without being cut off, so we write to the shorter numbers.

Objectives and placements

Meta lists the carousel format as available with all six objectives: Awareness, Traffic, Engagement, App promotion, Leads and Sales. The exception is Engagement with the conversion locations On your ad or Facebook Page, or the Tailored messages campaign setup. If you pick one of those, the Carousel option doesn't appear and Ads Manager can show error 2490153.

The placements Meta lists for carousels:

• Facebook: Feed, Marketplace, right column, Stories and search results. Meta notes that from March 2026 the Facebook Feed placement includes the Friends tab.
• Instagram: Feed, Explore and Stories.
• Audience Network: native, banner and interstitial.
• Messenger: Inbox, which Meta says is currently unavailable for carousel ads in the United States, Canada, France or Australia.

The placements on offer also depend on the objective. Choosing placements by hand versus leaving them on Advantage+ is covered in our Meta ads placements guide.

Creating a carousel in Ads Manager

Meta's steps, in short:

1. In Ads Manager click + Create and choose the objective.
2. At the ad set level, pick a conversion location that works with carousels. For Leads, Meta lists Website, Instant forms, Messenger, Instagram, WhatsApp, Calls or Apps; for Sales, Website and shop, Website, App, Message destinations or Calls.
3. At the ad level, under Ad setup, choose Manual upload or Advantage+ catalog ads, then choose Carousel as the format. For Leads, App promotion and Sales, turn off Advantage+ catalog ads at the campaign level if you want to upload the cards yourself.
4. For a manual carousel, click + Add cards (you can upload several images or videos at once), then add a headline and description (both optional) and a website URL. Apply to all cards copies the text to every card; otherwise each card gets its own.
5. Drag cards to reorder them, and use Select a placement to edit to change cards for a specific placement.

The same screen offers carousel optimizations: show cards as a video on Facebook Feed, show the best-performing cards first, add an end card with your Page profile picture, add music, and add a map card with your nearest stores. Which of these Meta switches on by default is part of Advantage+ creative, covered in our Advantage+ creative guide.

Card order and automatic changes

Meta's Highlight carousel card setting is on by default. With it on, Meta orders the cards by how they perform among the people who see the ad. It only works on Facebook Feed, Instagram Feed and Instagram Stories; on every other placement the cards show in the order you set. To turn it off, open the Advantage+ creative section of the ad and switch off Highlight carousel card.

Turn it off whenever the order matters: a step-by-step process, a story that builds, or a single long image spread across cards. Meta's long-image instructions also say to untick the best-performing-cards option first.

Carousels from a product catalog

With Advantage+ catalog ads, the cards come from a product set instead of uploads. You pick the catalog and product set, then choose whether to promote Multiple products or Product categories. Setting up the catalog and product sets is covered in our Meta catalog guide; these are the carousel-specific rules:

• Products only show if they are in stock, not rejected and not variants of the same product. If fewer than 2 products are available, Meta says the carousel turns into a single image ad or stops running. Meta recommends a fairly broad product set.
• Catalog carousels can show 1:1 or 4:5 product images; 4:5 is only available for this kind of carousel.
• You can add fixed cards that every viewer sees: an intro card at the start, a map card, or a profile card at the end. Meta notes that Ads with intro cards won't be delivered to Facebook Stories, Facebook Reels or Instagram Reels.
• The catalog card itself can be a single image or a slideshow, with its own headline and feed link description.

Creating one from your Facebook Page

You can also build a carousel from your Page with Advertise, choosing the goal Get more website visitors. It is simpler but more limited: you can add up to 5 images or videos, and the whole ad uses one website URL. Meta's own note: if you want each card to send people to a different URL, create the ad in Ads Manager.

One long image across the cards

A panorama-style carousel uses all the cards for one continuous image. Meta's method: make the image 600 pixels high and 600 pixels wide per card (3 cards = 1800 x 600), cut it into equal 600 x 600 pieces, and upload them left to right, one per card. The square crop tool in Ads Manager can do the cutting. Switch off best-performing-cards-first before you publish, or the pieces can be shuffled.

Reading results per card

In Ads Manager, open the Columns menu and choose Carousel engagement for carousel-specific metrics. To see each card separately, open Breakdown, then By action, then Carousel card. In Ads Reporting the same breakdown sits under Breakdowns in the Action section. How columns and breakdowns work in general is in our Meta ads reporting guide. If you want to compare a carousel against a single image properly, use an A/B test rather than two ads in the same ad set.

How we build carousel ads

This is our own practice, not Meta's guidance:

• We use carousels when there is a real reason to swipe: several products, several services, or a sequence. One product with one message usually goes in a single image or video.
• The first card has to work on its own, because many people never swipe. We put the offer or the strongest product there.
• Each card links to the most specific page we have for it, in line with Meta's advice to link each card to its product, and every link carries UTM parameters.
• For images-only carousels on Instagram we build at 4:5; when a carousel mixes in video we stay at 1:1, since that is what the Ads Guide supports.
• We turn off Highlight carousel card for sequences and long images, and leave it on for product carousels.
• After a week or two we check the Carousel card breakdown and replace cards that get clicks but no conversions, with conversions measured through the Meta Pixel and Conversions API.

Frequently asked questions

How many cards can a Facebook carousel ad have?

Between 2 and 10 cards on Facebook, Messenger, Audience Network and Instagram Feed. Meta's design specifications page gives a maximum of 3 for Instagram Stories, while its Ads Guide Stories page lists 2 to 10. A carousel created from your Facebook Page takes up to 5 images or videos.

What size should carousel ad images be?

Meta's Ads Guide asks for at least 1080 x 1080 pixels on Facebook Feed and Instagram Feed, and 1:1 works on every carousel placement. On Instagram Feed, image-only carousels can use 4:5 (1080 x 1350), and carousels with video use 1:1. Images can be JPG or PNG up to 30 MB.

Can each carousel card link to a different page?

Yes, when you create the ad in Ads Manager: each card has its own headline, description, link and call to action. A carousel created from your Facebook Page uses one website URL for all cards.

Why did Meta change the order of my carousel cards?

The Highlight carousel card setting is on by default and orders cards by performance on Facebook Feed, Instagram Feed and Instagram Stories. Turn it off in the Advantage+ creative section to keep your order. On Instagram, custom positioning may also start the carousel on a different card while keeping the order.

Why can't I select the carousel format?

The conversion location you chose is probably not compatible. Meta lists On your ad and Facebook Page (with the Engagement objective) and the Tailored messages setup as unsupported; this shows as error 2490153. Pick a different conversion location at the ad set level.

For more on Meta advertising, see our guides to Meta ads basics, Meta catalogs, Instagram Stories ads and Meta ads placements. We build the landing pages ads send people to as part of our website development work. See all our services, or browse more guides.